


Found the Pieces

by sarahexplosions



Category: Digimon - All Media Types
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark Area | Dark Ocean, F/M, Post-Digimon Adventure tri., Pre-Relationship, Rescue Missions, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27895645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahexplosions/pseuds/sarahexplosions
Summary: Post-canon diverged-Digimon Adventure tri.  Hikari asks Ken for a favor.
Relationships: Ichijouji Ken/Yagami Hikari | Kari Kamiya
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Found the Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> The original idea for this came to me after watching part 5 of tri., so this fic assumes some of the events that took place in part 6 happened differently. Where it diverges from canon should be clear enough from the text. I’ve also taken some creative liberties with both canon details and, uh, real life. (For instance, the city layout of Odaiba.)
> 
> Spoilery content warning, skip if you want to be surprised: In addition to explicit suicidal ideation, this fic includes what I can best describe as a passive suicide attempt. A character is in danger of dying and doesn’t want to be rescued. In the end they allow their life to be saved.

Ken remembers very little of the battle against Alphamon. He knows he watched Imperialdramon dissolve in front of his eyes, and braced himself against the oncoming light, but the rest of his memories are vague and blurred. Mostly he remembers waking up in the hospital with Wormmon’s egg in bed beside him. Ken didn’t feel the heartbreak of Wormmon’s destruction, and neither did he feel relieved to see the egg, a promise of another beginning. He felt drained of all emotion and being, as if he had spent a lifetime in nothingness. Maybe he had.

 _You’re in shock_ , Ken told himself. So he waited for the grief to settle and his heart to slip back into place.

When Taichi and Koushiro came to the hospital to explain everything, Iori cried silently. Miyako cried loudly. Daisuke wiped tears and snot from his face to ask if everyone was okay. Ken didn’t cry. All he could think to do was to ask the question that had been haunting him since he woke up: “How are we alive?”

Koushiro looked to Taichi for a brief moment, then back at Ken, then at the floor before he admitted, “We don’t know.”

Ken wondered if he hadn’t actually survived at all. If maybe he had been uncentered from the world, and the rest of his life would be only wide open emptiness.

But then.

Hikari visited his room. Her body sagged, her eyes were bloodshot. She looked defeated. And she was holding Tailmon’s egg.

The cold understanding compelled him to sit up in bed. But before Ken could say a single word, Hikari comforted him first. She hugged him close and whispered that everyone was okay, Wormmon would come back, she was so glad he was safe.

It was like rising to the surface. Where before Ken felt ruined, as if a storm had raged through him, he now felt a gentle exhale. Relief.

He couldn’t find it in himself to speak. Instead he returned the embrace and focused only on her presence. A warmth, a peace, filled him up from the inside. Even then he knew it wouldn’t stay forever, but nevertheless Ken closed his eyes and tried to hold onto it.

* * *

Ken spent the first couple weeks after the hospital entirely at home. He needed to catch up on the schoolwork he missed, and his parents…

Ken needed to be home.

Today he heads to Odaiba. The train is crowded, everyone off to enjoy a warm Sunday afternoon. Ken listens to the quiet sounds of the other passengers’ conversations, watches the scenery pass by the windows, feels the weight of Minomon in his backpack. It’s all exceedingly normal and it feels wrong. He knows the worlds are saved, but he still expects disaster to strike at any moment. A part of him is still waiting for the true emergency to reveal itself. Waking up after it was all over didn’t seem right.

Minomon was napping earlier, so Ken keeps silent when he gets off the train. But after a mile or so his Digimon is popping his head out of the backpack. “Ken-chan, you have a call,” Minomon says, holding the phone out to him.

Ken assumes it’s Daisuke waiting for him, but his ringing phone shows Takeru’s name instead. He answers on speakerphone. “Hello?”

“Daisuke said you were on your way to Odaiba?” Takeru asks. No greeting, and he sounds rushed, scared. It sparks immediate worry in Ken’s stomach.

“We just got off the train,” Minomon says.

“What’s wrong?” Ken asks.

Takeru doesn’t waste time. “Come to the Yagami apartment. Hikari-chan disappeared. We think she went to the Dark World.”

Ken’s chest tightens, his pulse races, as if this is the moment he’s been waiting for since he woke up in the hospital. “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he says and hangs up without saying goodbye.

“Ken-chan,” Minomon starts, but Ken has already started running.

His surroundings pass by unfocused. He tries to make plans or piece together what happened, but anytime half a thought stitches itself together it immediately dissolves. Panic beats like a heart inside him. He runs, and runs, and refuses to believe they have lost Hikari for good. This cannot be a fight already over. Ken knows they can get her back.

The apartment building’s elevator will be quicker than the stairs, he knows, but waiting for it to rise is an exercise in frustration. Once he finally arrives at the correct floor, he sprints to the Yagami door and pounds on it.

A couple seconds later, Hikari opens it.

Ken stops.

Hikari smiles politely. “Ken-kun. And Minomon too, hello. I wasn’t expecting you two.”

“Hi!” Minomon greets happily.

Ken stares at her while trying to catch his breath. Only now does he notice the burning in his lungs from running so far so fast. “Hi,” he manages.

Hikari tilts her head a little, confused. She’s wearing casual clothes and holding Tailmon’s egg. She’s here, she’s safe, she’s okay.

“I, you-” Ken stumbles over his words. “You’re fine.”

Hikari’s smile disappears, her expression unreadable. “Takeru-kun called you too,” she murmurs, apparently mostly to herself. Then she forces her polite smile back in place and says, “I’m sorry to make you worry. I’m sure you were trying to get here quickly. Would you like to come in?”

Ken wonders and takes another deep breath and decides, “Yes, thank you.”

It’s the first time he’s seen her since the hospital, and though they’ve exchanged a few texts in the intervening weeks, none of them were substantial. Ken couldn’t find it in himself to ask how she was doing and dreaded being asked the same question. Now, stepping into the apartment, Ken can see that she looks almost normal. Except Tailmon’s egg has yet to hatch. And in ways he can’t explain, Ken feels like there’s less life to Hikari than he remembers. But maybe that has more to do with him than it does with her.

Hikari leads him to the living room where a small conference resides. Taichi, Daisuke, Takeru, and their Digimon all look a little concerned at Ken’s harsh breathing.

“Takeru-kun,” Hikari says, “you should tell everyone I’m all right.” She’s not looking at him; instead she goes into the kitchen and gently sets Tailmon’s egg on the counter.

“I am,” Takeru defends while texting on his phone.

“You didn’t tell Meiko-chan, did you?” Hikari calls.

She’s busy filling up a glass of water so she doesn’t see Takeru frowning at her. “I hadn’t gotten to her, no.”

Hikari nods to herself before leaving the kitchen and handing Ken the glass. “I’m sorry for you to come all this way. Can I get you anything else?”

“Ken was gonna come practice with me anyway,” Daisuke pipes up from his spot on the floor. “And he’s fine.”

“Daisuke, that’s rude,” Chibimon says. “Let Minomon ask for a snack.”

Daisuke sits up straight and tells Hikari, “We just want to make sure you’re alright.”

“I am,” Hikari promises. “Like I said, I was just down at the store buying school supplies. I should have told someone I’d be gone, I’m sorry.”

“Well, we’re glad you’re okay,” Daisuke continues, “but if you were just at the store, why did Takeru call me convinced that you were at that ocean?”

The whole room - including Patamon gently hovering above them all - watches her closely. Hikari looks at the floor. Ken holds onto the glass of water and tries to get his breathing under control. He’s intruded into something very personal; he doesn’t belong here, sweaty and unwelcome and unable to meet anyone’s eyes. Maybe he should quickly and politely make his exit. Maybe he should just leave without saying anything to make it worse.

Then Minomon jumps down from Ken’s backpack and onto Chibimon in greeting. The tension is instantly broken; Hikari smiles at them. Then she turns to Ken and tells him, “It’s all right. Please, drink, sit down with us.”

So Ken sits beside Daisuke on the floor and downs half the water. Hikari retrieves Tailmon’s egg from the kitchen and sits across from them, placing the egg on her lap. “I’m assuming you saw my notes,” she says.

“We did,” Taichi says. He and Hikari aren’t looking at each other. “You didn’t say you were going anywhere, and when Takeru and I saw…”

“Notes?” Daisuke asks.

“I’m gathering information,” Hikari says. “Writing down what I know and remember about the Dark World.”

The thought makes Ken nervous. Chibimon apparently doesn’t feel the same. “Sounds like we worried over nothing,” he says atop Minomon’s head.

“What else were we supposed to think?” Takeru asks. “We’ve been really worried about you.”

Ken can almost see the shadow trying to settle on Hikari’s face.

Agumon changes the subject. “If it was just for a little bit, you could have left the egg with me. I’ll always be there for Tailmon.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Patamon says, gliding down to the floor. “Hikari will want to be there when Tailmon hatches, right?”

“I will,” Hikari agrees. “But it’s nice of Agumon to offer. Besides, Tailmon isn’t ready to hatch yet.”

“How long is it going to take?” Minomon asks.

Ken looks down at the egg, Hikari holding it carefully with both hands. It is just as silent and still as it was in the hospital.

“Elecmon says it might take a while,” Daisuke says.

Ken stares at him. “You talked to Elecmon? When?”

“Like a week ago, it doesn’t matter.” Daisuke physically waves the question off. “The point is, the egg will hatch when it’s ready.”

“But when will it be ready?” Minomon asks.

“We don’t know,” Hikari tells him. “We’ll have to be patient.”

Agumon places a paw on the egg. “But it’s been weeks. It doesn’t usually take this long.”

“ _Agumon_ ,” Taichi says sharply, like a warning.

“It’s because of what happened, isn’t it?” Patamon asks Hikari. “Tailmon was hurt and needs more time to recover because of Ordinemon.”

Hikari nods, face solemn as she looks down again.

Patamon looks like he’s about to cry for a moment, but then he nods. “Okay! Let’s be patient for Tailmon.”

“We’ll wait with you!” Agumon declares.

The Digimon all take turns patting the egg, telling Tailmon they miss her, promising to see her soon. Ken watches Hikari give each of them a small, forced smile. He drinks the rest of his water and says nothing.

After leaving the Yagami residence, Ken and Daisuke go to the park. Daisuke said he wanted to practice soccer, but it’s obviously just an excuse to hang out. Chibimon and Minomon aren’t big enough to really handle their soccer ball, so they’re mostly bouncing on top of it and pushing each other off it.

Daisuke grins at them. “We need a Digimon soccer league.”

“You can cheer Chibimon on from the stands,” Ken says. He passes the ball to Daisuke with his head; Daisuke drops it.

“Chibimon clearly took all my talent,” Daisuke groans. Ken laughs, and Daisuke kicks the ball at him.

“Don’t fight!” Minomon says from the side of a tree. Because now he’s trying to climb a tree.

“Fight!” Chibimon says, balanced on the soccer ball. “Go Daisuke!”

“Go Ken-chan!” Minomon says, who has abruptly changed his mind. Daisuke laughs.

Chibimon jumps off the ball and heads for the tree. “Minomon, I’ll race you to the top!”

“Okay,” Minomon says and starts climbing again.

“Wait, you can’t have a head start!”

Ken smiles and shakes his head while Minomon jumps back down to the ground. He and Chibimon agree on a starting point, count down, and start climbing. They disappear above the leaves and it’s the first time Ken and Daisuke have been alone since the hospital.

“You wanna talk about it?” Daisuke asks quietly.

Ken swallows down his immediate reaction of _no_ and instead asks, “Do you?”

Daisuke sighs slow and heavy. “...Yeah, but I want to talk about it so it can be better. So things just can be fixed and go back to normal. But that’s not going to happen, is it?”

“I don’t think so,” Ken says softly.

“That’s part of why I talked to Elemon last week,” Daisuke admits. “I wanted to see for myself that the digital gate was open and we could still go to the Digital World, and I wanted to see how things were at the Village. But mostly I just wanted to feel normal for a little bit.”

“It didn’t work,” Ken guesses.

Daisuke picks up a ball. “I don’t know what to do,” he admits. Ken can’t remember ever hearing him say that. “I want to meet Mochizuki, but I just know I’m going to say something stupid without meaning to and make her feel worse than she already does. I want to help Hikari-chan, but...who knows what’s going on with her. I want to tell you that the bad guys wearing your face and using your digivice wasn’t your fault, but I’m not sure if you’ll believe me anymore. And Miyako’s a mess. Iori too. We all are. I don’t know how to handle any of it anymore.”

Ken looks up at the tree. Chibimon and Minomon should have finished their race right now. He thinks they’re purposely waiting to come back down, letting him and Daisuke finish talking in private.

“I’ll always believe you,” Ken says finally.

“So you don’t blame yourself?” Daisuke asks.

Ken can’t answer that question honestly. Daisuke seems to understand. He doesn’t ask again.

* * *

Minomon’s presence at school is an open secret. He mostly naps in Ken’s backpack until lunchtime, when he’ll come out to eat and say hello to other students. There’s been little disruption, and Ken is sure that’s the only reason the teachers haven’t done anything about it. At least not yet. He hopes it stays that way. Ken doesn’t know when he’ll be comfortable spending the school day without his partner again.

Minomon stays quiet through Monday afternoon’s session of make-up work, but he’s out of Ken’s backpack the second they step outside the school doors. “Ken-chan, I’m hungry.”

“Let’s go home and get dinner.” Minomon’s entire body nods in agreement. Ken chuckles before something catches his eye.

Hikari is on the sidewalk, clearly waiting for him. She’s holding Tailmon’s egg, of course, and hasn’t changed out of her school uniform. Her smile has a shade of uncertainty to it. Ken wasn’t expecting this, but at the same time he’s not entirely surprised.

“Hi Hikari!” Minomon says.

“Hello Minomon,” Hikari says. “Are you learning a lot in class?”

“He’s napping a lot in class,” Ken says. Hikari just barely breathes a laugh. “Did you come straight here after school?” he asks, even though she obviously must have.

“Yes, after photography club.” She avoids eye contact, looking at the ground. “...I know I didn’t tell you I was coming. Please don’t let me keep you from something.”

“It’s fine,” Ken says. “You’re not keeping me from anything.”

“Except dinner,” Minomon adds.

A bit of the tension leaves her. “Sorry, Minomon. Can I buy you a snack to make up for it?”

Hikari insists on paying for Minomon’s snack, and sodas for herself and Ken. They settle on a bench near the vending machines. Minomon starts eating, Ken sends a quick text to his parents that he’s not coming straight home, and Hikari falls silent and makes no move to even open her drink.

Ken sees no benefit in drawing this out. He puts his phone away and asks, “Did you need to talk about something?”

Hikari is quiet when she speaks. “I need to ask a favor. But I want you to feel free to say no.”

Ken can’t imagine her asking for anything he would say no to. “If there’s something you need…”

Her smile is sad. “I almost wish you would say no,” she says, which just makes him more confused. “I should explain, right? About yesterday.”

Ken knew she hadn’t been entirely honest. “Why are you writing notes about the Dark World?” he asks, because it’s been worrying him more than he wants to admit.

“I need the information,” Hikari says. “I need to be prepared if I’m going there.”

Ken doesn’t know if he’s more horrified or heartbroken.

“But why?” Minomon asks, his voice as upset as Ken feels.

Hikari grips her can. “Because that’s where Himekawa-san is. And I want to help her get back home.”

Ken wishes he didn’t care about Himekawa. She’s a woman he’s never met, who used his powers to hurt his friends. Ken shouldn’t care about her. But he does, enough to know that she’s been missing for over a month and the others assume she’s dead.

“How do you know she’s there?” he asks.

Hikari hesitates for a moment, and then says, “I had a dream Saturday night. I was walking along the beach. Himekawa-san was standing alone at the dark ocean’s edge. ...I know a feeling isn’t a lot to go on. But the feeling didn’t go away when I woke up. She’s there.”

If anyone could find someone in their dreams, it would be Hikari. Ken wants to believe her, but. “But it’s been weeks since she disappeared. Is there food in that world? Shelter? Is the ocean water drinkable?” He’s never even considered the prospect of surviving there long term. He tried not to think about that place any more than he had to.

“There’s no evidence she’s alive,” Hikari admits. “But there’s no evidence she died, either. I think it’s worth the chance.”

“But it’s such a small chance.” Ken finds himself already stacking up the problems with saving her. “We don’t know where in that world she might be, or even how big that world is.”

“What about Demon?” Minomon asks. “What about the other beings there?”

Hikari lets out a slow breath. “I know. It’s why I haven’t told anyone else yet. I don’t even know where to start.” She grips her soda can again. “It’s hard. If Himekawa-san is there, and needs help, I want to get to her as soon as possible. But just rushing in without a plan wouldn’t help her.”

At least she’s being smart about it, Ken thinks. But that’s probably mostly due to the egg in her lap.

“And,” Hikari adds slowly, “I realized I couldn’t make a plan until I asked for your help.” She finally meets his eyes again. “I need a gate.”

For a moment Ken feels the fear.

“I hate to ask it of you,” she says, and Ken couldn’t doubt her with the regret in her eyes. “I remember how badly it hurt you. You shouldn’t...I don’t want you to put you through more than you already have. But I don’t know how to do it myself-”

“I’ll do it,” Ken says. The confidence of his own voice almost takes him by surprise. But he already knows he will push aside whatever fears or reservations he has for this.

Hikari looks sad again. “Are you sure? Himekawa-san hurt you, and you never even met her; you shouldn’t feel obligated to help with this.”

“I’ll do it,” Ken says again. “If I can help you, and save a life, of course I will.”

She relaxes, breathing out in relief. “Thank you,” she whispers. “It’s very kind of you.”

“Ken-chan is always kind,” Minomon says. He’s looking at Ken with concern. “I’ll be right beside you the entire time.”

Ken nods against the lump in his throat. “Thank you, Minomon.”

Minomon then turns to Hikari. “I want to help you, too.”

Hikari looks touched. “You’re very kind too, Minomon. The best thing you can do for now is look after Ken-kun for me. He’ll need you when he opens the gate.”

Minomon nods. “You can count on me! I always look after Ken-chan.”

But Ken finds himself puzzling over Hikari’s plan again; a troubling thought has occurred to him. “Hikari-san, how will you get back after you’ve found Himekawa? If you can’t open a gate to the Dark World from our world, how will you open a gate the other way?”

He almost regrets asking the question as he watches her relief evaporate. “I don’t know,” she admits. “It’s another thing I’m having trouble with. Before, a gate opened to the Digital World, and I returned home from there. But I’m not sure if that could happen this time, or if Himekawa-san would be further injured from jumping through another gate…”

She trails off. Minomon looks up at Ken, and Ken knows they’re having the same thought. They nod at each other.

“We’ll go with you,” Ken says.

“No.”

Her answer is immediate and definite, enough to make Ken startle. “Hikari-san,” he starts, not knowing what to say.

“I don’t want to put this on anyone else,” Hikari says. “I’m doing this on my own.”

It’s unthinkable. “You can’t go alone!” Minomon says. “You don’t even have Tailmon to protect you.”

Her hand tenses on the egg. “Tailmon shouldn’t be going anyway. I don’t want to subject anyone else to any more darkness on my account.”

“You didn’t subject anyone to darkness,” Ken protests.

Her expression fills with dread. “Do you not know what happened?” she asks, as if she’s terrified she’ll have to explain.

There’s no denying the truth. “Koushiro-san told us about Ophanimon,” Ken says slowly. “But he also said you weren’t in complete control of yourself.”

Hikari looks him in the eye. “I still did it.”

It is, word for word, what Ken still thinks about himself.

Minomon takes a breath, to defend Hikari from herself or insist on coming with her, but Ken stops him with a gentle hand on his head. Minomon deflates and settles himself in Ken’s lap.

“Just tell me when you need the gate,” Ken says quietly. “And I’ll come.”

“Thank you,” Hikari returns, just as quiet.

The conversation has taken everything out of her. Her careful projection is gone and Ken can see just how tired she is. Her entire body seems to be drained. As much as Ken desperately wants to make her promise not to go alone, he thinks that would do more harm than good right now.

Instead he walks her to the Tamachi train station. Hikari’s shoulders are tight the whole time and she doesn’t look at either him or Minomon. Ken tracks the slowness of her movements, the effort it takes to simply move through the world. She’s tired of continuing on. She needs a break. She needs Tailmon back. She needs things that Ken’s unable to provide.

At the station he wishes her a safe trip home. Hikari can’t even manage a polite smile. It’s unlike her, and yet Ken’s thankful to know that she isn’t wasting her energy. He doesn’t want her to have to pretend around him. So he gently lays a hand on her arm and says, “Please take care of yourself.”

Hikari nods and says, “You too, Ken-kun.”

He thinks her steps onto the train are a little lighter than they were before. Maybe that’s the best he can hope for tonight.

* * *

“Try to make it quick, okay?” Miyako says as she arrives on Tuesday evening. She’s carrying a plastic bag full of treats and Poromon is on top of her head like a hat. “I have homework.”

Daisuke frowns from his spot on the ground. The space behind Miyako’s family’s store isn’t exactly comfy, but it was the most convenient place for her to meet. And at least they’re separated from the public. “This isn’t supposed to be quick,” Daisuke says.

“You didn’t say this was going to be a big thing,” Miyako says, even as she starts distributing snacks. Ken catches the juice she tosses in his direction and passes it to Minomon.

“I said I was inviting all of us and we all needed to talk,” Daisuke defends, gesturing around to everyone: the three of them, Iori, and their Digimon. Daisuke had texted Ken with his idea for a talk group and Ken decided to support him even though he’s not optimistic about the outcome. Talking is going to be easier said than done.

“Just make it quick,” Miyako mumbles before sitting down. She settles Poromon into her lap and starts fiddling with a candy bar wrapper. She doesn’t seem to be any more optimistic about this than Ken. He knows she’s taken everything hard, and he’s worried about her.

But more than Miyako, and almost more than Hikari despite the past couple days, the one Ken is most worried about is Iori. Even now, sitting in their haphazard circle outside a convenience store, Iori stares at the ground as if he’s disconnected from all of them. Ken can’t process everything himself. He can’t imagine the difficulty Iori, the youngest of them, is having.

“What did you want to talk about, Daisuke?” Ken asks, trying to jumpstart everything.

Daisuke shoots him a grateful look and draws himself up. “We’re a team,” he says. “And teams work together to get through the hard stuff. So, uh, how’s everyone doing?”

Daisuke might have gained _some_ emotional intelligence since Ken first met him, but clearly it’s still not a strength of his.

Nobody says anything. Iori continues staring at the ground. Miyako looks to Iori, then back down at Poromon. The only thing Ken can think of to say is _I feel like I’m not supposed to be alive_ , so he keeps his mouth shut.

Daisuke sighs. “Um, okay. Well.” He thinks for a moment, and then says, “Maybe the Digimon could talk?”

“Okay,“ Chibimon says. “What about?”

“About...what it’s like to hatch.”

Daisuke trips over his words a little but Chibimon doesn’t seem to mind. “It feels good,” he says simply.

To Ken’s surprise, Minomon speaks up. “It feels like a relief. Like you’ve been waiting for something, and it happened.”

Chibimon, Poromon, and Upamon all nod along at his words. Their human partners all look a bit caught off-guard. This is not a conversation they’ve ever had.

“So,” Iori starts quietly, “are you conscious? In your eggs?”

“Not really,” Upamon says.

“It’s more like right before you wake up,” Poromon says. “You’re still asleep, but you’re a little aware of what’s happening.”

“And nothing hurts,” Chibimon adds, hanging off Daisuke’s shirt. He asks Minomon, “Hey, was hatching this time different from last time?”

“It was the same as last time,” Minomon says. “I waited, and when it was time, I hatched. And Ken-chan was there.”

“I liked that, dagyaa,” Upamon says. “I liked that I got to hatch with Iori there.”

“With Miyako!”

“With Daisuke!” Chibimon jumps to Daisuke’s shoulder. “It’s better to not be alone.”

“What about you?” Minomon asks Ken. “When you woke up in the hospital, were you alone?”

Ken nods. Minomon droops a little.

“I’m sorry,” Poromon tells Miyako. “It’s better when you don’t wake up alone.”

“But we’re all together now,” Chibimon says. “No one’s alone now.”

Daisuke smiles. “You’re right. So, hatching doesn’t hurt?”

“Nope.”

“And it doesn’t hurt to talk about?” Iori asks quietly.

Upamon says, “Hatching is the easy part, dagyaa. Why would it hurt to talk about?”

“Because talking about any of it hurts!”

Miyako immediately looks ashamed at her outburst. She grimaces and looks away, mumbling an apology.

Poromon sighs and cuddles closer into Miyako. “You don’t have to be sorry, Miyako-san. You can hurt around me.”

“But I don’t want to hurt you.” Miyako looks around the group. “I don’t want to hurt any of you. Because it happened to you too.”

“But that’s why we _should_ talk to each other,” Daisuke protests. “Because we’re the ones who can best support each other. Don’t you think?”

Miyako frowns. “But everything’s different now. Everyone looks at me differently: at home, at school. Even the others, Sora-san and everyone, they look so sad when they look at me. Hikari-chan and I haven’t really spoken about anything at all. We were such good friends, and now I can’t think of a thing to say to her.”

“That’s not your fault,” Minomon says. “Everyone is struggling.”

Miyako’s face twists. Then she says, as if she’s forcing it out, “I worry about falling over. Just randomly walking down the street, and going unconscious again, and never waking up.” She sniffs. “It’s stupid.”

It’s not stupid. Ken has spent the last two weeks dreaming of being in a coma again and missing another crisis, or a job interview, or his own wedding. He hasn’t spoken a single word of it out loud.

“I worry about things too,” Daisuke says.

“Like falling over?” Miyako asks dryly.

“Like all the things I missed out on,” Daisuke says. “The battles everyone else had. What’s happening to the Digital World, to our world. I missed soccer and classes and time with my family. I worry about it all.”

It’s quiet for a moment, and then Iori speaks up. “I worry about my mother and my grandfather. I don’t think they handled it well when I was gone.”

“I worry about my parents too,” Ken says, mostly to try to keep Iori talking. “This isn’t the first time I disappeared on them.”

Iori nods. “It must have been even harder for them.”

Minomon says, “But they know I’m always with Ken-chan. They know I will always protect him.”

“Of course you will!” Upamon says. “You’re partners.”

Poromon looks up at Miyako. “I’ll always protect you, too. If you fall over, I’ll catch you!”

“No matter what,” Chibimon says, “we’re always together.”

Daisuke grins. “That’s right. We’re a team.”

Miyako wipes her eyes. “Yeah. A team.”

  
  


“I think it went okay,” Daisuke says as they’re walking toward his home. “At least we got over that initial barrier.”

“Miyako seemed a little better,” Chibimon says from Daisuke’s arms. “Iori, though…”

“I think it will be harder for him,” Ken says. “But we won’t leave him alone.”

“Right! We’re a team!” Daisuke declares. He raises Chibimon into the air, causing giggles. Then he turns to Ken. “Have you talked to Hikari-chan since…”

Ken can feel Minomon’s eyes on him. He doesn’t want to lie, but he doesn’t want to admit to the plan to find Himekawa either. If Hikari hasn’t talked to anyone else it feels like a betrayal of confidence to bring it up. He settles on saying, “We talked a little yesterday.”

Daisuke frowns. “I’d ask her to come talk with us, but…” He shrugs. “Maybe at a later time she’ll be ready.”

“Maybe when Tailmon hatches,” Minomon says.

“Whenever that is,” Daisuke says. “That’s the worst part of it, you know? We all have our Digimon but Hikari-chan doesn’t.” He holds Chibimon close. “I don’t know what I would do without you, Chibimon.”

Chibimon smiles and shakes his head. “You would go to Ken and all your other friends!”

Daisuke smiles back. “I guess you’re right. But Hikari-chan isn’t going to other friends.”

Ken remembers Hikari’s decision to go to the Dark World alone. He still hasn’t figured out how to protest it. Minomon, looking to Ken for guidance, obviously hasn’t either.

But Chibimon says, “If she won’t go to us, then we’ll go to her!” Daisuke smiles, and Ken turns the words over in his mind.

When they arrive at his apartment building, Daisuke asks, “You sure you don’t wanna come in for a bit?”

“I should be getting home. Another time?”

“Okay. Hey, make sure to respond in the group chat!”

“I will,” Ken promises. “Because we’re a team, right?”

Daisuke grins. “Go team!”

“Go team!” Chibimon echoes.

Ken can hear them chanting for a while even as he walks away. He takes out his phone to text his parents that he’s heading home. But he doesn’t want to yet.

“Minomon,” he says, “can we take a detour?”

“We’ll go to her, right?” Minomon says warmly.

Ken’s plan seems like a good one until he’s standing outside Hikari’s home. He remembers her distant eyes, her slow voice. He doesn’t want to cause her any more pain.

But people aren’t meant to be alone. Ken knocks before he can lose his nerve.

Hikari looks worried when she opens the door. “Ken-kun, Minomon, is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine,” Ken says. “I was with Daisuke, and thought I’d stop by.”

Her worry subsides and she smiles a little. “Oh. Did you want to come in?”

Ken shakes his head. “I really should be heading home. I just...wanted to talk to you first.” She’s concerned again, but Ken doesn’t let the moment settle and plows ahead. “Look, I. After I stopped being the Digimon Kaizer-”

The words get jammed in his throat. Even all these years later, the shame and guilt can still overtake him.

Hikari reaches out and takes his hand. It feels warm, like it did at the hospital.

Ken clears his throat and tries again. “After that I had to make things right. And I thought since it was my fault, I had to do them all alone. But I shouldn’t have. You all were already involved and pushing you away didn’t help anyone.”

“Ken-kun…”

“You don’t have to do this on your own,” Ken tells her, grasping back on her hand. “You’re not alone. Minomon and I will go with you to find Himekawa.”

Hikari’s eyes water. She takes a deep breath and quietly asks, “Are you sure?”

And strangely enough, he is. “Let’s find her together.”

She squeezes his hand. “Okay,” she agrees. “Together.”

* * *

The first thing Koushiro says after they’ve explained is, “You two are very kind. But if Himekawa ended up in the Dark World, she wouldn’t still be alive.”

Sitting beside Hikari on the couch in Koushiro’s office, Ken feels his hopes drop. On the opposite couch Tentomon and Minomon exchange worried looks. Ken pushes through the heaviness of the room to say, “We believe there might be a chance.”

Hikari adds, “We don’t know for sure that she died.”

Koushiro sighs, leaning back in his desk chair, not looking at anyone. Someone undoubtedly let him know about the false alarm on Sunday; Ken wonders what he thinks about this unlikely rescue idea in light of that. “I’m sorry but the evidence points in that direction. She’s been gone for over a month; that’s well past the limit of how long the human body can survive on salt water.”

“But we don’t necessarily know the ocean is all there is,” Ken argues. He feels like they’re having an academic debate over someone’s life, and he doesn’t like it, but they didn’t come to Koushiro to be dismissed out of hand. “We don't know everything about that world. There could very well be access to everything necessary for survival: fresh water, food, shelter.”

“I want to believe that,” Koushiro says, his voice so heavy. “But even if that’s true - even if she managed to avoid all the danger, even if she had access to all those things - she would have needed motivation to find it all. Can you honestly believe she had any?”

Ken cannot.

But Hikari looks at Koushiro and says with a shaking voice, “I have to believe she did.”

Koushiro closes his eyes. Ken swallows back his questions and assumptions.

A long moment passes before Koushiro draws himself up. “All right,” he says, and finally looks at them again. “If we’re going to try this, we need a plan. Where do we start?”

Hikari inhales sharply, blinks away her unshed tears, and says, “Ken-kun and I have some thoughts.”

It’s time to work. Ken pulls out his notebook he’s been writing in since last night. “The plan needs four steps,” he says. “First, going to the Dark World. Second, finding Himekawa. Third, returning to our world. Fourth, getting Himekawa medical attention for whatever state she’s in.”

“Four steps,” Tentomon says. “It sounds simple…”

“But it won’t be,” Koushiro finishes.

“But the first step is taken care of,” Minomon says. “Ken-chan will open a gate.”

“And you can do it without hurting yourself?” Koushiro asks.

Ken nods. He’s different than he was years ago. He still remembers his friends’ hands on his own, Daisuke’s voice shouting at him that he didn’t have to live in darkness anymore. “I can,” he promises.

Koushiro starts typing at his computer. “Can you control _where_ in the Dark World you open the gate?”

Ken sighs. “Somewhat. I...vaguely remember doing so in the past.” Many of his memories from his time as the Kaizer are still faded. “But I don’t think it will be exact.”

“Better than nothing,” Koushiro says. “Will you be able to control the location of the gate back from the Dark World to our world?”

“Yes.”

“Then steps 1 and 3 are already taken care of,” Hikari says. She’s holding her own handwritten notes. “I’m most worried about finding Himekawa-san.”

“It would be impossible to search the entire Dark World,” Tentomon says.

Koushiro, still typing, says, “I have next to no information about that world. It’s similar to the Digital World, in that it is made of data, but it’s still largely a separate entity. I can’t even say how big it is.”

Hikari nods. “And without any hint, Ken-kun could open a gate to the other side of that world and we’d never find her.”

“How can we get more information?” Minomon asks. “Would Gennai help us?”

Tentomon shakes his head, looking worried. “Gennai hasn’t responded to any of Koushiro-han’s messages since returning to the Digital World.”

Ken frowns, trying to brainstorm. “We could send a scouting team to gather information. But there’s so many dangerous beings there…” They all go silent for a moment. Ken knows they’re thinking about all those dangers, and wondering how high Himekawa’s chances are for avoiding them.

Hikari physically tries to shake off her worries and looks back at her notes. “Can we talk about step four?” she asks. “If we can get Himekawa-san back to our world, she will probably need medical attention. But opening a portal directly to the hospital, or just near it, could cause a panic.”

Koushiro smiles. “You should call in our medical expert.”

“Jou-senpai?” Hikari says, writing in her notebook.

“It’s impossible to know everything ahead of time, but he’ll be able to prepare us for likely scenarios.” Koushiro frowns at his computer. “It really is just finding her that’s the main problem.”

The conversation falters again. Even as Tentomon and Minomon talk about the possibility of finding footprints they know it’s a lost cause. Hikari texts her brother for any information he might have on Himekawa and Ken flips hopelessly through his notes.

There has to be something he’s missing. “She hasn’t made contact with anyone?” Ken asks, despite already knowing the answer.

Koushiro shakes his head. “I tried to track her down after Ordinemon’s defeat.” Ken notices Koushiro’s little glance at Hikari there, but she doesn’t react. “I checked her digital signature, contacted her work, everything I could think of. As far as I know, she disappeared not long after the gate to the Digital World opened, and no one’s heard anything from her since.” This time he looks at Hikari directly. “You really think she’s there?”

Hikari nods. Koushiro half-heartedly types on his computer again. His pessimism is logical when they’ve reached a dead end. How are they supposed to find someone they barely know in a dangerous world?

Ken can’t regret trying to help but he wishes he didn’t have to. He doesn’t want to think about Himekawa using his digivice as part of some treacherous plan. They barely even know why she-

“Wait,” Ken says. “Himekawa was a Chosen Child. So she had a digivice?”

Hikari’s eyes widen in hope. “Could we track that?”

“I can’t track things in the Dark World,” Koushiro says.

Hikari argues, “But you can track our digivices in the Digital World from the Real World. And if the Dark World is made of data too-”

“I know the Digital World’s code,” Koushiro interrupts, his disappointment evident. “We’re running back into our lack of information - the Dark World’s code is different and we have no way of accessing it.”

And a light goes off in Ken’s mind.

“Yes, we do. The Dark World is what transformed my original digivice into a D3.”

  
  


For the next two hours Koushiro only pays attention to his computer and Ken’s D3. It’s as if the rest of them aren’t even there. Tentomon seems to think Koushiro’s single-minded focus is normal and only requests for someone to pick up dinner. Hikari heads to the nearest takeout place and Ken texts in Daisuke’s group chat.

> _Miyako: I’m so sick of trying to catch up on schoolwork ヾ( ￣O￣)ツ_
> 
> _Ken: Do you need help?_
> 
> _Miyako: I have a study group. But they all treat me weird since the disappearance_
> 
> _Daisuke: There’s really nothing that isn’t affected by disappearing for so long, huh?_
> 
> _Ken: It would be nice to have a distraction._
> 
> _Daisuke: School is a distraction?_
> 
> _Miyako: School is its own problem! ￣Д￣_

After a quiet dinner Koushiro finally returns Ken’s digivice. “The data was immensely helpful,” he says, “but it’s only a starting point.”

“Are you going to try to make a tracking program?” Hikari asks.

“Yes, but it won’t be easy. The data needs to be processed, and then I’ll have to create the algorithm from scratch. That might take weeks.” Koushiro looks at Hikari and says, gently as he can, “I need you to understand that the odds are not good.”

Hikari seems to hunch in on herself, but she nods.

“Even if I’m successful, I’m only tracking a digivice, and Himekawa could have lost it at any time. And...we’re running against a deadline we may have already passed.” Koushiro sighs and draws himself up. “But I’ll do everything in my power to find her.”

“I don’t doubt you,” Hikari says quietly. “Thank you, Koushiro-san.”

“Please let me know if I can do anything to help,” Ken says.

“Thanks. I’ll stay in contact, try to keep you both updated. And I still suggest talking to Jou-san if you want to be prepared from a first aid standpoint.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” Hikari says. “Thank you.”

They exchange their goodbyes. While leaving the office Ken sees Koushiro return to his desk and get back to work. He also sees the exhaustion hit Hikari’s face as they close the door behind them. In the hallway she pauses and takes a breath to steady herself.

“Minomon and I can walk you home,” Ken offers.

Hikari smiles lightly. “I was going to say I could walk you to the train station.”

Ken smiles back and holds out his hand to her. “I beat you.”

There’s a hint of a laugh in her face as she takes his hand.

They don’t speak as they leave the building. But the silence is lighter than it was on Monday. He hopes it’s because Hikari is more comfortable with him now.

She used to be comfortable with him. They’ve been friends for years, after all. They were part of a team that fought together and played cards on Christmas Eve. It felt like their years of friendship were just one more thing these past months had damaged. But that’s not all true. Hikari came to him, and Ken came to her. They can walk hand-in-hand together, Minomon resting on Ken’s shoulder, Tailmon’s egg in Hikari’s arm. The evening is calm and quiet and safe.

Since the time they were lost in the forest, since Hikari ran to him and put her arm around his back, Ken has always felt safe with her. Even when the digital gate closed last year and the whole group was grieving, somehow being around her made it easier to confess his truest feelings.

Ken had said, “I wish we could have said goodbye. I didn’t get to say goodbye to my brother either.”

“I’m so sorry,” she had told him. “I’m sure they both wanted to say goodbye to you, too. I’m sure Wormmon will say as much when we see them again.”

“You think we will?” Ken asked as he stared out the window. He hadn’t believed it then.

“I know we will. It doesn’t make it any easier now, but we _will_. Remember that, okay?”

Hikari has given him friendship, safety, a semblance of hope when he had none. He wants to provide the same for her now. He hopes he is.

They walk in peaceful silence until they arrive at Hikari’s apartment building, and Ken regretfully has to let go of her hand.

* * *

Ken’s phone wakes him at 1:16 a.m. and he knows something is wrong. Why else would someone call him in the middle of the night? He hurries down from his bed and picks up his cell phone from the desk. The sight of Taichi’s name and number make his chest squeeze.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I’m sorry to wake you.” Taichi’s voice is quiet across the line.

“It’s fine,” Ken says. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s- I mean, no one’s hurt or anything, it’s just.” Taichi sighs. “Hikari had a nightmare and she can’t stop crying.”

It isn’t one of the world-ending scenarios Ken imagined in the last twenty seconds, but it isn’t much of a comfort. “She’s not injured?” he asks, just to make sure.

“No, I don’t think so. I think she was hyperventilating? Agumon was able to help her breathe again, but she’s still having trouble calming down. I thought maybe you could talk to her.”

As if Ken could ever decline. “Yes. If she wants to.”

“Thanks.”

There’s some shuffling on the other end while Ken waits. “Ken-chan?” Minomon asks from the bed.

Ken gives him a comforting smile. “It’s all right. You can go back to sleep.”

“Okay. Come back to bed, Ken-chan.”

Ken is lying down again when he finally hears Hikari’s voice.

“Ken-kun?”

“Hikari-san, are you all right?”

“I’m okay.” Her voice is heavy and wet; she’s obviously still crying. “I’m sorry my brother woke you.”

“No, it’s not a problem.” For a second Ken’s mind goes blank. What should he say? How can he comfort her across a phone line? Then Minomon cuddles into Ken’s side and the answer seems obvious. “Minomon is with me. Is Agumon there with you?”

“Y-yes.”

“I’m glad you’re not alone.”

Her breath shakes. “It’s good to hear your voice,” she says softly.

“I’ll stay on the line if you want me to,” he promises. “Okay?”

Hikari sobs a little at that, but she says, “Yes. Please, I...did you get home all right?”

“I did. The train wasn’t very crowded. I had a quiet night.”

“Me too.” It just didn’t stay that way.

“Your brother said you had a nightmare,” Ken says. “You don’t have to talk about it, but…”

It takes a moment for Hikari to gather her voice. “I just hope we find Himekawa-san,” she cries.

Ken tries not to think of all the horrible dreams she might have had. “I hope so too,” he says. “We won’t give up.”

“Okay,” she whispers. Takes a deep breath. “Okay.”

He tries to think of something normal, separate from the Digital World and all its troubles, to talk about instead. “You-you said you’re in photography club, right?”

“...Yes.”

“How is that going?”

“...Okay. I like taking pictures. And seeing the pictures everyone else takes, too.”

“Maybe sometime you could show me some pictures you’ve taken,” Ken offers.

He thinks, just maybe, he can hear a little smile in Hikari’s voice when she agrees.

  
  


Taichi and Agumon are waiting outside when Ken gets out of school. Some of the passing students stare openly at Agumon, but some smile and wave. Agumon waves back at them.

“Hey,” Taichi says. “Thanks for seeing me on short notice. I really appreciate it.”

Ken of course agreed when Taichi texted this morning and asked to meet, but truthfully he doesn’t know what to expect from this conversation. “Let’s sit down someplace,” he says.

Once they find a bench, Agumon and Minomon have no qualms jumping for the drinks and snacks Taichi brought. “It’s good to see you!” Agumon tells Minomon. “Is school fun?”

“I like being with Ken-chan,” Minomon says. “And I like the other students.”

“You’re smaller than me,” Agumon says. “I can’t sneak into school with Taichi. Maybe I should be Koromon and go to school with him.”

Taichi laughs. “You would be bored. You can always go to Koushiro’s office with Tentomon if you’re lonely. I’m sure Minomon could go there too,” he adds to Ken. “Though I guess it’s harder for you since you don’t live close.”

Ken’s not ready to be without his partner yet anyway. “I’ll keep it in mind,” he says.

Taichi takes a gulp of his drink and says, “Thank you for last night. We were all able to get back to sleep eventually.”

“I’m glad.”

Taichi leans back against the bench. “I’m sorry to do this to you, but you’re the only one who’s been infected by something evil like she was. I need your help.”

Before all this happened, Ken would have assumed that Taichi would have no regrets dredging up Ken’s old nightmares if it could help his sister. Now he isn’t sure. Taichi’s changed these last few months.

“It wasn’t the same,” Ken says, because there’s no good place to start this conversation. “What happened to her and what happened to me was different.”

“Was it?” Taichi genuinely sounds curious. “I know the details are different, but the main story is the same, isn’t it?”

Ken wants to fight that for some reason. Before he can, Agumon says, “It doesn’t need to be the same if it gives understanding.”

“‘Understanding,’” Ken repeats.

“This wasn’t the first time I’ve heard her crying at night,” Taichi admits, “even if it was the worst time. Mom’s worried. I try to reassure her, but frankly neither of us know what to do. And now I hear about an attempted rescue mission in the Dark World? I got nothing. She’s not talking to me. I think the only person she’s really talking to is you.”

Ken wonders if Hikari or Koushiro told Taichi about Himekawa. He wonders if he really is the only person Hikari will talk to. He wonders what will happen if they find out Himekawa is already dead.

“I don’t want you to spill her secrets,” Taichi says. “I was just hoping for...advice. Some frame of reference to what she’s feeling. Anything.”

Ken could talk about guilt. About waking up and not knowing why you’re bothering.

He doesn’t want to have this conversation.

Minomon, ever the loyal Digimon, settles into Ken’s lap. It helps to have the reminder he’s with him.

“I know you all went through a lot,” Ken says slowly. “But from what you all have told me, Hikari-san felt things deeper.”

Taichi nods, his face solemn. “She could feel that the Digital World wanted us to get out. Homeostasis took over her body multiple times. And then…”

Ken remembers how it felt losing Osamu. He knows firsthand how Hikari felt thinking her older brother was gone.

“Ophanimon,” Taichi continues quietly. “Ordinemon. That guy wearing your face calling her a goddess of destruction. Risking her life to break Tailmon out.”

Ken stares at him. He had heard about the mystery man posing as the Digimon Kaizer, but _that_ piece of information had been left out. “What did he call her?”

Taichi cringes a little. “Sorry. Takeru didn’t tell me about that until later.”

“‘Goddess of destruction’?” Ken repeats. “He-I-”

“It wasn’t you,” Taichi says quickly. “We know that. So does she.”

Minomon asks, “And we still don’t know who that person is?”

“Or if he’s even a person,” Taichi confirms. “Or what he was truly after. Koushiro’s theory is that he’s a digital being like Gennai. Takeru thinks he was taunting Hikari for a reason. But it’s all just speculation.”

“We have to wait and see,” Agumon says.

Ken swallows nothing, guilt and helplessness churning in his stomach. “That’s the thing: we’re all waiting. It’s not over for any of us, but especially for Hikari-san. She still doesn’t have her partner back. And even after the egg hatches, she’s going to take time to come to terms with everything.”

Taichi looks at him directly and says, “You’re still coming to terms with everything.”

Sometimes his bluntness hurts. “That man hurt my friends while wearing my face,” Ken manages to say.

“But that wasn’t you,” Taichi argues. “And the Digimon Kaizer was born from the Dark Seed, and that wasn’t your fault either. Something else took over Hikari’s body and corrupted her. You both are blaming yourselves for things you couldn’t control.”

Ken shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter that we weren’t completely in control of ourselves. It was still us doing those things.”

Taichi sighs, deep. He gulps down the rest of his drink while Ken tries to regain composure. It’s easier said than done.

“I should have been checking in on you more,” Taichi says.

“No, it’s-” Ken starts, but Taichi just shakes his head.

“We need to be there for each other. There’s just been so much in the aftermath...but that’s no excuse. I haven’t been there for you and Daisuke and the others.”

“We’ve been checking in with each other,” Ken tells him.

Taichi smiles. “Good. But I’m gonna be there for you, too.” His smile disappears and his face goes serious. “Please, talk to me if any of you need me.”

Ken nods. “I will. Thank you, Taichi-san.”

“You can come to me too,” Agumon adds. Taichi beams at him, and Ken remembers all over again that the Digimon all forgot their human partners. Even if they remember now, having their partnerships disappear must have been so hard for Taichi and others. Ken doesn’t know how Taichi was able to handle it; he can’t imagine the pain if Minomon ever forgot about him.

Taichi stands up. “I should get heading home.”

“Of course,” Ken says, looking at the time. “It’s getting late.”

“But thank you for talking to me. It helps a lot.”

Ken can’t see how he helped at all. He hasn’t been much help to anyone lately.

No, that’s not true. He’s been there for Hikari and Daisuke and Miyako. If Taichi says he helped, Ken shouldn’t doubt him.

But there’s something else. Ken gathers his courage and stands. “Before you go. About Nijishima-sensei,” he says, bowing a little. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

It was one of the many things Ken should’ve said at the hospital, when he was lost inside himself. But he can say it now.

“Thank you,” Taichi says quietly. “It means a lot.”

> _Hikari: Thank you for talking to me last night._
> 
> _Ken: You can always call me, even in the middle of the night._

Hikari doesn’t reply. But Ken falls asleep with his cell phone in bed with him, just in case.

* * *

Friday is the first night this week Ken heads straight home after school. Part of him wishes he were on a train to Odaiba right now, but he settles for a phone call with Koushiro as he walks.

“Like I told Hikari-san, there isn’t much to say,” Koushiro reports. “I made some headway but I’m nowhere close to a completed program.”

“What do you have?” Minomon asks from Ken’s shoulder.

“About 1.4% of a map,” Koushiro answers. “Your D-3 recorded a lot of location data from the Dark World, but it’s still only a small fraction. Right now I’m trying to fill in blanks from where the Dark World’s code and the Digital World’s code line up and see where it gets me.”

Ken briefly wishes he still had his genius from the Dark Seed; he’d be able to do something besides wait. “How much do the codes line up?”

“More than I was expecting. There’s still a lot of variation, of course, but the overlap is interesting. I’ve actually come to the hypothesis that the Dark World was born _from_ the Digital World. Some data separated from the whole and diverged from there. The Dark World isn’t only made of data, just like the Digital World isn’t, so it’s hard to say for certain-”

Koushiro abruptly stops himself and sighs. “Sorry. I’m going on a tangent.”

Ken smiles to himself. “No, I’d be interested in hearing your theories at some point. Is there anything I can do to help? Minomon and I will be in Odaiba tomorrow, so...”

“I’ll let you know,” Koushiro says. “I wish I had better news.”

“We know you’re doing the best you can,” Ken says.

“Please take care of yourself,” Minomon adds.

“You guys too,” Koushiro says.

After hanging up Ken checks in on Daisuke’s group chat. Iori has suggested a park for their get-together tomorrow so the Digimon will have room to play. Minomon approves. “Chibimon and I can play soccer again.”

“Maybe we can all play a game,” Ken says. “We’ll ask the others tomorrow.”

Minomon snuggles into Ken’s shoulder. “Iori doesn’t use the chat as much.”

“Iori-kun is a quiet person by nature,” Ken says. “But he does seem quieter than usual since everything.”

“I hope he’s okay.”

Ken finds himself slowing down and coming to a complete stop on the sidewalk. He feels like he needs stillness to say words he should have said weeks ago.

“Minomon, are _you_ okay?”

Minomon thinks for a short moment, and then says, “Yes.”

“But you died. Again.”

It’s easier saying it out loud when he isn’t looking into Minomon’s eyes.

“Ken-chan, I’m sad that we couldn’t protect you. I’m worried about all the things we don’t know. But I’m with you, so I’m okay.”

Ken feels tears forming and tries to blink them away. “Is it really that simple?”

“It is for me. What I said was true - hatching is a relief. It’s like being able to start again. But you woke up blaming yourself again. You didn’t start over.”

Ken wipes his eyes. “If I had never become the Digimon Kaizer, none of this would have happened.”

“You can’t say that.” Minomon moves forward off Ken’s shoulder. Ken catches him in his hands and forces himself to look at his partner. “If you weren’t around, Yggdrasil and the others would have made different plans. You can’t hold responsibility for what someone else did.”

Minomon is right. Ken knows he’s right and yet… “I don’t know how to stop,” he confesses.

Minomon leans into Ken’s chest. “It’s okay, Ken-chan. I’ll stay with you and one day you’ll forgive yourself again.”

Ken can’t find words to respond. He breathes deep and looks toward the setting sun.

* * *

Once everyone is settled on the grass, Daisuke clears his throat and says, “I thought we would start off by saying how our week was. Iori, Upamon, why don’t you go first?”

Iori takes a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking. “I’m all right, I guess. I’m completely caught up with class work now.”

“That’s great,” Ken says encouragingly.

“And Takeru-san and Patamon came over last night,” Iori adds.

“It was fun, dagyaa!” Upamon says. “It was nice to play with Patamon.”

“How’s Takeru doing?” Daisuke asks. “I haven’t talked to him much lately.”

“Busy,” Iori says. “He’s still trying to pass along information to other Chosen Children around the world. They all have a lot of questions.”

“We all do,” Miyako sighs.

“Why don’t you go next?” Daisuke asks her.

“The week’s been okay,” she says with a shrug. “I finally got my classmates to stop asking where I was and what happened. I know my friends were worried, but the others were just being nosy. And my siblings are helping cover my hours at the store so I can finish catching up at school.”

“The week was good,” Poromon says. “I come with to study group! Miyako-san’s classmates are nice.”

Miyako smiles. “They just think you’re cute.”

“My classmates all like Minomon too,” Ken says.

“Probably for the same reason,” Miyako says. Minomon wiggles proudly at that. “How are you guys doing?”

Ken knows he should tell them about trying to find Himekawa. But he tells himself it’s too big an explanation while they’re just giving headlines. “I’m doing all right,” he says instead. “I’ve been busy working on a lot of things. It feels good to be productive.”

“That sounds good,” Poromon says. “Are you busy too, Minomon?”

Minomon shakes his head. “But I’m happy because I’m here. It’s a nice day outside.”

“It’s your turn, Daisuke,” Ken says.

“Oh, right.” Daisuke grins sheepishly. “Well, I passed my literature test. And we played basketball this week, and I scored three times!”

“He didn’t fall once!” Chibimon says.

“You’re not helping,” Daisuke tells him. Ken and the others laugh. “But with school and sports and everything...it feels like things are settling.”

“Like going back to normal?” Ken asks.

Daisuke shakes his head. “No, things are too different. But they’re turning into a new normal, I guess.”

“This is better,” Chibimon says. “Before, the gate was closed, and I was separated from Daisuke. Now the gate is open and I can stay with him again. So things are good.”

“That’s what I told Ken-chan,” Minomon says. “That I’m okay, so long as I’m with him.”

The other Digimon nod, but Iori looks uncertain. “We still don’t know what’s going to happen,” he says. “If we’re in a new state of normal...I like being with Upamon. But I don’t like waiting for the inevitable.”

Miyako nods. “It’s the uncertainty. We used to have clear objectives: take down the Dark Towers, or fight this enemy. Now we don’t know what to do. And we missed so much of what happened.”

Daisuke sighs. “I wonder if this is how Taichi-san and the others used to feel.”

“What do you mean?” Chibimon asks.

“During our adventures, their Digimon couldn’t armor-evolve. So there were times they had to stay on the sidelines while we took care of everything. I wonder if they felt frustrated too. They still helped a lot, but it’s not the same as doing it yourself.”

“At least they were able to help,” Miyako says, a little bitterly. “They didn’t spend weeks in a coma.”

The group falls into an awkward silence for a long moment.

Then Daisuke says, “I hate that I wasn’t able to help them.”

Chibimon frowns. “I’m sorry you’re upset, Daisuke.”

“But I’m not upset.” Daisuke crosses his arms. “I’m angry.”

Miyako says, “I’m angry, too. It makes me mad.”

“Hm.” Daisuke looks around. “Do the rest of you feel that way too?”

Iori closes his eyes and admits, “I’m not really sure how I feel.”

Daisuke and Miyako look at him with concern. Ken wonders if he should talk about the guilt. Minomon told him he needed to start again. If the others are sharing their own feelings, and if it would help Iori…

His cell phone goes off. “Sorry,” Ken says as he retrieves it from his bag. It’s Koushiro; he probably has an update. “I need to take this. I’ll just be a minute.”

The others nod. Ken stands and walks a bit away so he won’t disturb the others; he thinks he can hear Miyako saying something to Iori as he answers his phone.

“Hello?”

“I found Himekawa’s digivice,” Koushiro says.

Ken stills. “You what?”

“The program - it works. I have the location in the Dark World.”

His head is spinning. “H-how? Last night you said you weren’t even close-”

“Gennai-san contacted me early this morning. I’ll explain it all later, right now we need to move.”

Everything is happening too fast. “Does Hikari-san know?”

“I just called her, she’s on her way. Are you in Odaiba?”

Ken clenches his fist. It doesn’t matter if he’s ready or not; he has a mission. “We’re at West Promenade. Where should I meet you?”

He hears Koushiro typing. “The Aomi bus stop is about halfway between us.”

“I’ll call Hikari-san and tell her to meet us there.”

“Got it.”

Ken hangs up and dials Hikari’s number.

“Ken-chan?” Minomon asks. He’s moved away from the group to Ken’s side. “Was that Koushiro?”

“He found Himekawa’s digivice,” Ken tells him. “Get ready to go, okay?” Minomon nods quickly.

Hikari answers her phone. “Ken-kun?”

“Meet us at the Aomi bus station.”

“I’m on my way.”

Ken hangs up, scoops up Minomon from the ground, and turns toward the others....who are all staring at him blatantly. “Sorry,” he stumbles out. “I have to leave.”

“Is everything okay?” Upamon asks.

Ken can’t find it in him to lie or avoid the subject anymore. “Hikari-san and I are going to the Dark World to find Himekawa,” he says. The entire group starts to exclaim or protest, but he cuts them off and continues, “I can explain on the way, but I have to go now.”

In seconds everyone has gathered up their things. They all run down the street while Ken gives a condescended explanation of the past week: Hikari’s dream, the request for gate, Koushiro’s program-

“I can’t believe you kept this a secret!” Daisuke shouts. “After all I said about being a team!”

There’s no time for regret right now. “We don’t even know if she’s alive. And the program wasn’t supposed to be finished this early-”

“You still should have prepared us!” Miyako says, squeezing Poromon perhaps a little too hard. “We don’t even have a plan-”

“‘Prepared you?’” Ken repeats.

“Oh, you think you guys are going by yourselves?!” Miyako shouts. “No wonder Hikari-chan hasn’t been talking to me, she knows I wouldn’t accept that. Of course I’m going with you!”

“We’re _all_ going!” Daisuke says.

They’re not. At the very least Ken won’t allow bringing Iori, who looks a little panicked. But they’re coming up on the bus stop, and Ken sees Koushiro running toward them with his laptop, Tentomon flying behind.

“We should stay away from the actual station,” Koushiro says as they reach each other. “So we’re not in anyone’s way. Hikari-san is coming?”

Ken nods and they all move down the sidewalk away from the building. “The tracking program…”

“Here.” Koushiro shows Ken his laptop, and the rest of them crowd around to see. The screen has a topographical map, and a small, shapeless portion of it is highlighted in blue. “The signal isn’t perfect, but enough to have a decent mark on the location of the digivice. Are you going to be able to open a gate here?”

Ken clutches his D3 in hand. “I can do it.”

“It’s a tracking program?” Iori asks Koushiro. “But…”

“I’m here!” Hikari calls as she rounds the corner. Her face is serious and her arms are tight around Tailmon’s egg.

“I’ll give you the map,” Koushiro calls back.

Hikari reaches them and hands him her D3. “Updates?” she asks, trying to catch her breath.

Koushiro, already connecting the D3 to his laptop, shakes his head. “The signal hasn’t improved much since I called. And we only have the location of the digivice.”

“You don’t know if Himekawa has the digivice on her,” Iori concludes.

“Or what condition she might be in,” Koushiro agrees.

Hikari turns to Ken. “I think we have to go in without knowing she’s alive,” she tells him. “It’s not ideal but...”

“I agree,” Ken says. “We’re going.”

“And you’re not going alone!” Daisuke declares. “We’re coming too.”

“As many as we can get,” Miyako agrees. “Koushiro-senpai, who else knows?”

“I called Taichi-san,” Koushiro says, still working. “He’s calling the others. But it’s going to be at least twenty minutes until he can get here-”

“We can’t wait for them,” Ken says.

“Why not?” Daisuke asks. “She’s been there for weeks, what’s the difference?”

“The signal might change or disappear,” Iori says, connecting the dots. “And if Himekawa is still alive, every passing moment might be too late.”

“Then it will just be us,” Miyako says.

“You’re not all coming,” Hikari says, finally addressing the others. 

“Yes we are!” Miyako shouts at her. “This isn’t the time to act on your own!”

“We’re a team-” Daisuke starts.

“A team with an objective,” Hikari interrupts. Her voice is hard and authoritative; Ken has never heard her speak like this before. “If we’re going to save Himekawa-san, part of the team needs to stay here.”

“What are you talking about?!” Daisuke says. “There’s strength in numbers, and we don’t know what’s out there!”

Koushiro hands Hikari back her digivice and says, “You have the map. What’s your plan?”

The confidence she had seemingly vanishes, replaced by panic. She swallows and looks at Ken. He can’t think of a thing to say, so he just nods at her. Hikari takes a deep breath and visibly gathers her courage before addressing everyone.

“Ken-kun, Minomon, Miyako-san, Poromon,” she says, “you all are coming with me through the gate. The rest of you are staying here.”

“ _What?!_ ” Daisuke demands.

Miyako nods with determination. “I’m ready. Poromon?”

“Ready!”

“Hikari-san, you’re without a partner!” Iori says. “Only taking two Digimon-”

“Koushiro-san,” Hikari says, “I need you to keep an eye on this map. Monitor the situation. If you notice anything we need to know, contact me on the D-terminal.”

“But-”

Hikari doesn’t stop. “Tentomon,” she continues, “you need to make sure an ambulance can get to this area as soon as possible. Fly up high and point out any problems.”

Tentomon takes to the sky. “I’m on it.”

“Iori-kun,” Hikari says, turning to him. Iori startles a bit but gives her his full attention. “Call Jou-san, see if he can get here soon so we have first aid for Himekawa-san. The second we get back, you need to call for an ambulance. Direct them here with Upamon and Tentomon’s help.”

For all the worry on his face, Iori doesn’t hesitate. “Okay.”

“You can count on us,” Upamon says.

Hikari turns again. “Chibimon, you’re a runner. Help direct the ambulance, find water for first aid, anything that comes up while we’re gone.”

“Right!” Chibimon says, but his partner is bristling.

“I’m not staying here!” Daisuke says.

“Daisuke-kun,” Hikari says, as if he hasn’t spoken at all, “if Jou-san can’t get here quick enough then I’ll need you to look up first aid for dehydration and fatigue. When my brother and others arrive, update them on the situation.”

“I’m coming with! I’m not-”

“And I need you to take care of Tailmon.”

Hikari holds out her partner’s egg. Daisuke’s fight instantly leaves him, and he stares down at the egg with something close to grief.

“I don’t have time to convince you. Or to apologize,” Hikari admits. “But I can’t bring Tailmon to that world. Take care of her until we get back, okay?”

For half a second, Ken is afraid Daisuke is going to refuse. But then Daisuke takes the egg firmly and nods. “Hikari-chan, I won’t let you down.”

Hikari gives him a swift smile, and turns to Ken and Miyako. “Whenever you’re ready, Ken-kun.”

It’s time. Ken’s body seems to jolt with resistance. He doesn’t want...

But Minomon is still in his arms, looking at Ken with wide eyes. Then Miyako steps forward and puts her hand on his back. Then Hikari takes Ken’s wrist, just like the last time he opened the Dark World’s gate. He is not alone. He doesn’t have to fear this.

Ken closes his eyes, tapping on the darkness that’s always there in the back of his head. He knows it well. He understands its call.

He opens his eyes and raises his D3. A portal opens, showing dark shores and a cloudy sky. 

“Chosen Children,” Miyako says, “let’s roll.”

  
  
  


The air is so wet Ken feels like he’s drowning.

It’s been years since he stood at this ocean. But every time feels like the first: the wet chill of the air, the dull roar of the waves. The deepness in the sky as if a storm is coming. Wind-blown sand scratching at his skin.

The exhaustion. The constant anticipation that something is creeping closer and he’d never be able to outrun it. The guilt and self-loathing of everything he’s ever done.

The dark.

“Ken-chan.”

He forces himself to look away from the water. Wormmon is standing beside him on the sand. Ken smiles to see his partner’s familiar child form again.

“I’m all right,” he says, and wills it to be true. He leans down to pick up Wormmon and looks around. Hawkmon has taken to the air, trying to get a sense of their bearings. Miyako dusts off her hands on her shirt. Hikari is looking down at her D3, face frozen in concentration. The beach is deserted except for themselves. Further inland the sand fades to grass, and then to fog.

Hikari raises her head and points along the shoreline. “This way.”

Miyako takes Hikari’s hand. “Nobody goes off on their own,” she says. “No matter what, we stay together.”

“Together,” Ken agrees.

They set off: Hikari and Miyako leading, Ken and Wormmon behind them, and Hawkmon flying above them.

It’s strange to be back here. The area feels unfamiliar, but Ken knows that doesn’t mean much with the holes in his memories. He knows he’s walked through sand in this world. He remembers encountering shadows he had no names for. He remembers a town but it may have been deserted. Or maybe he is remembering all of it wrong.

Ken tries to refocus himself. He has a purpose and he can’t stray from it. He has to keep his thoughts on finding Himekawa.

But he can’t help but wonder what they’re actually going to find. Will there only be a lone digivice in the sand? Is Himekawa actually here, standing by the ocean as Hikari saw her? Or will they find her long-dead body?

No, he tells himself. He can’t lose hope yet.

Miyako keeps holding Hikari’s hand. “Hawkmon?” she asks.

“I’m afraid I can’t see much through this fog,” Hawkmon reports.

“But the signal’s getting stronger,” Hikari says, looking down at her digivice. “I can almost see a path forming here. We’re going the right way.”

“Then we keep going,” Miyako says. “Hawkmon, take a rest from flying if you need to. Everyone, I have a water bottle in my bag if you get thirsty. And protect your eyes from the sand, okay? None of you have glasses like me.”

Ken is grateful for her voice. It’s easier to walk forward hearing it; it’s as if she knows how to keep the darkness at bay. Hikari was right to bring her along.

Ken is so, so thankful Hikari isn’t here alone.

How has Himekawa survived here for so long by herself, if she’s alive at all?

“Ken-chan,” Wormmon murmurs. “It’s all right. I’m with you.”

“I know,” Ken says. “Thank you.”

They walk on. Their path along the ocean curves to the right. The landscape doesn’t change. They remain alone. But Ken still has the sense of something creeping toward them. It might be his imagination, and yet…

Hikari abruptly stops and looks out over the ocean.

“Something’s there,” she says.

Instantly Ken knows she’s right. He follows her gaze and feels a presence in his spine.

“Are you sure?” Miyako asks, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. “The water isn’t moving.”

“They’re there,” Hawkmon says. “Under the surface.”

“Then why aren’t they attacking?”

“They’re leaving us be,” Wormmon says. “They’re just watching.”

“No,” Hikari says, eyes locked onto the ocean. “They’re calling.” Ken can only hear the tides, but he knows better than to doubt her.

“Hikari-chan,” Miyako says. “You’re shaking.”

“I hear them,” Hikari says, her voice wavering.

She tries to take a step toward the water. Ken’s heart leaps into his throat, but Miyako is already grasping Hikari’s arm. “Stop,” she says firmly.

Hikari tenses, as if she’s physically twisting away from the noise. “I…”

Ken stands between her and the ocean. He tries to ignore the feeling of being watched. “Hikari-san, we have a mission.”

Miyako nods. “That’s right. Listen to my voice, not theirs. We have to stick together.”

“We have to keep going,” Hikari says, as if she’s trying to remind herself.

“Look at the map,” Ken says. “Are we close to the digivice?”

Hikari swallows. Then she looks down at her D3 again. “Yes,” she says. “We’re close. Let’s…” She shakes her head. “We have to keep going.”

“We’re going to find Himekawa,” Ken tells her. “We’ll all go home together.”

Hikari fumbles to take Miyako’s hand again. “I can still hear them. But we have to keep moving.”

“That’s right,” Miyako says. “Let’s keep walking.”

It takes visible effort but Hikari pulls herself forward one step, and then another, and then they’re continuing again. Ken walks beside them now, not behind.

“Listen to my voice, not theirs,” Miyako repeats. “We’re going to find Himekawa and then we’re all going home. All of us.”

Hikari breathes deep. She looks around- to Miyako, to Hawkmon, to Ken and Wormmon. “Stay close,” she says quietly.

“We will,” Ken promises.

Their pace is faster. Hikari and Miyako keep holding hands. Wormmon is staying focused in Ken’s arms, keeping an eye on the ocean just in case.

And then Hikari suddenly raises her head. “Up ahead,” she says.

“Hawkmon?” Miyako asks.

Hawkmon looks ahead and reports, “I think I see something.”

They run. Soon Ken can just barely see a figure in the distance, at the edge of the water. He can feel hope and dread all at once. Let it be her, he thinks. Let it be Himekawa.

Closer they run. It’s definitely a woman lying there on the shoreline. But she isn’t moving. Horror begins to settle.

“Himekawa-san!” Hikari shouts. The figure stays still, but she continues to call, her voice too loud in the thrumming silence around them. “Himekawa-san!”

They’ve failed, Ken thinks. They’re too late.

But then they reach her, and her eyes are open.

Himekawa breathes; slowly, harshly, but she’s breathing. Her eyes move from one of them to next. Ken can hardly believe it. How is she still alive? How long has she been lying here on the sand?

“Himekawa-san,” Hikari says, kneeling beside her. “Can you hear me?”

Himekawa blinks at her for a long moment before asking “Why are you here?”

Her voice is quiet and gravelly from disuse, but she’s talking, she’s understanding them. With every second Ken can feel more shock and relief. He doesn’t know how she made it. But she did. They weren’t too late after all.

Hikari’s smile is emotional. “We’re here to help. We can take you home.” 

“You shouldn’t be here,” Himekawa says.

“It’s all right, everything’s fine.” Hikari quickly looks back to Ken. He nods, raising his D3, and prepares himself to open the gate again. Hikari turns back to Himekawa. “We’re going to take you home, okay? Can you stand?”

“I’m not going back.”

Hikari’s face falls. Miyako, who had been kneeling down to try to help Himekawa up, stills.

Himekawa closes her eyes. “Go. Leave me here.”

Ken swallows, trying not to shake.

“Himekawa-san,” Hikari tells her quietly, “we came to take you home.”

“Leave me here,” Himekawa repeats.

Miyako drops to her knees. “We need to go,” she says. “It isn’t safe here. There are- there’s something in the water, and I think this world is affecting y-”

“ _You know nothing!_ ”

They all jump. Himekawa stays lying in the sand, her face twisted with rage and despair as her wild eyes stare at Miyako.

“You stupid, horrid child,” she creaks, “do you think I wouldn’t have killed you if I needed to?!”

Miyako seems to shut down. She stands back up and steps away from Himekawa, turns away from everyone, her entire body clenched.

Himekawa turns her gaze on Hikari. “You bring _Ichijouji_ and _Inoue_ to try to save me? Of all people?”

Ken feels a surge of emotion, remembering that this person knows exactly who they are and what she’s done to them. He keeps his eyes on Hikari’s stricken face.

“I- They wanted to help.” Hikari’s voice sounds desperate, on the verge of tears. “We all wanted to come get you. Himekawa-san, please, we-our world is safe, the Digital World is safe-”

“How dare you tell me all is well!” It sounds as if Himekawa is physically tearing the words from her own throat. “How dare you come for me! Goddess of destruction, can’t you let me die in peace?!”

The name lodges itself in Ken’s chest. He can’t handle the look of devastation on Hikari’s face, and yet he can’t look away.

“You should have come to kill me,” Himekawa says, ragged, “like you killed your Digimon.”

Hikari breaks. She squeezes her eyes shut, tears finally flowing, as she begins to sob.

“Spare me your stupid emotions.” For the callousness of the words, Himekawa’s rage seems to have dissipated. “I have lost my partner. I have lost _everything_. Leave me to die as I see fit.”

Tears fall heavy on Hikari’s cheeks as she bows her head and grabs uselessly at the sand beneath her.

But Ken finds himself clenching his fists.

“Himekawa-san,” he says, voice shaking, “you might accept dying, but we will not.”

For the first time Himekawa truly looks at him. It hurts to meet this woman’s eyes. All Ken can think is that he recognizes everything he sees: desperation. Hopelessness. He doesn’t know Himekawa at all, but he knows her all too well.

“We came here to find you,” Ken tells her. “We faced this place that we fear so much so we can bring you home. We aren’t going to leave without you.”

“Why?” Himekawa asks. “Do you think you can wipe away your sins by saving such a lowly creature?”

“Because we are Chosen Children!” Miyako shouts. She’s turned to face them all again, wiping her nose. “You were a Chosen Child once too, weren’t you?” she demands. “Don’t you remember what that means?”

“Loss,” Himekawa answers.

“Yes,” Ken says. “But from that loss, a responsibility to not lose again.”

Miyako gives one forceful nod. “You think you can just tell us to leave and we will? No way.”

“Don’t tell me you actually care for me,” Himekawa spits back. “I can see your hate from here.”

“So _what_?” Miyako shouts. “So what if you would have killed me? So what if I hate you? I can save you anyway!”

“I’m not worthy of life.”

Miyako kneels down beside Hikari, who is as still as stone even as Miyako puts her hand on her shoulder.

“You really know nothing about me,” Miyako tells Himekawa. “I don’t care what you’re worthy of.”

“I want this. It’s what I deserve. I can’t…”

Miyako shakes her head. “I’m not going to convince you to live. I know I can’t. But you don’t have to decide to live right now. All you have to decide is to not die here.”

Himekawa doesn’t say anything. She looks at Miyako in silence and Ken decides he doesn’t want to know how long she has been lying in the same spot. He just wants it to end.

“No matter what you’ve done,” he says, “you don’t deserve this darkness. Let us take you away from it. Please.”

Himekawa closes her eyes. She takes a long, deep breath.

Finally, she says, “I can’t stand up by myself.”

  
  


Hikari supports Himekawa’s right, Miyako supports her left, and they lead her through the gate. Hawkmon follows behind. Ken and Wormmon go last.

Both humans and Digimon are in motion as he steps through. Most importantly, Jou is coming forward and helping Himekawa to the ground.

Ken wastes no time; his mind lets go, and the portal closes without a trace.

They did it. They’re back.

Ken immediately sits on the grass. Wormmon huddles close into his side. The cold and the creeping presence have left him, darkness seeping away. The air is clean as it passes into his lungs. They made it, he thinks to himself. It’s over.

“Ken.” Daisuke kneels beside him, still holding Tailmon’s egg. “Are you okay?”

“I’m all right,” Ken says. “I just…I need a minute.”

Daisuke nods and sits down next to him. They both look over to where Himekawa is; Jou is helping her take tiny sips of water, Miyako and Hikari looking on. Iori and Taichi are both on their phones, one of them presumably with an ambulance. Mimi and Takeru also arrived while they were gone; they are working with Koushiro to calm passersby and direct them away from the scene. Tentomon is circling above, but the rest of the Digimon are gathered off to the side, trying not to cause a commotion.

“What happened here?” Ken asks.

“We did what Hikari-chan told us to do,” Daisuke says. “Jou-senpai just got here two minutes ago. I’m glad I didn’t have to do first aid.” He looks worried. “Are you sure you’re okay? What happened over there?”

“I’m okay,” Ken says. “We...followed the map. We found her. We came home.”

“Nobody’s hurt?” Daisuke asks.

“We didn’t see anyone,” Wormmon says. “But…”

“Nothing attacked us,” Ken says. That’s the important thing. “No one’s hurt.”

Daisuke hangs his head in relief. “That’s good.”

Ken hears sirens coming closer. Daisuke reaches out a hand to help him on his feet.

They watch Jou talk to the paramedics from a distance. Himekawa is responsive in just the barest sense, only nodding or shaking her head. She is brought inside the ambulance without looking at or speaking to anyone.

Ken keeps quiet. It still hurts to look at her. Even if he could find it in himself to leave her with some words of comfort, he doesn’t think she would accept them.

But I understand, he thinks. I understand what you’re feeling.

When the ambulance is out of sight, Jou heaves a huge sigh of relief. “I think she’s going to live.”

“Really?” Koushiro asks.

“She’s not in great shape,” Jou admits. “She’ll have a long recovery. But I think she’s going to make it.”

Miyako lets out a shaky breath and sits down on the grass. “We did it.”

The Digimon clamor with the good news. The others give relieved sighs and smile at each other. Ken lets gratitude run through him. Himekawa shouldn’t still be alive after all this time, they shouldn’t have been able to find her, but they did. They pulled off a miracle.

He turns to find Hikari; they did it, _she_ did it-

Hikari is walking onto the grass behind the bus station, and Daisuke is following her.

Ken feels the shoe about to drop and follows.

“Hikari-chan?” Daisuke asks. “What did I-”

Hikari stops, standing with her shoulders hunched, staring at the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Ken asks.

Daisuke looks back and forth between him and Hikari, confused and worried. “I just- I wanted to give Tailmon’s egg back. You said it was just for the trip. And you’re back, so…”

She slowly turns to them. Her eyes and face are still red. Daisuke smiles nervously but steps forward, holding out Tailmon’s egg to her.

Ken only barely hears Hikari say “I can’t.”

Oh no.

“H-Hikari-chan,” Daisuke stammers, “Tailmon isn’t going to want me when she hatches.” He’s trying to smile, to joke, still awkwardly holding out the egg and waiting for Hikari to take it.

“I killed her.”

Ken feels the air leave his lungs. Daisuke looks horrified.

“Hikari-chan.” It’s Miyako, walking to Ken’s side. He can feel the presence of some of the others behind him as well. He hopes not everyone has noticed, hopes Hikari has _some_ privacy for this. “Himekawa was in that world for a long time. You can’t listen to what she said.”

Miyako starts walking towards her, and Takeru does too. But Hikari takes a step away from all of them, causing them to stop in their tracks.

“But it’s true,” she says. “I killed Tailmon.”

“Hikari, no,” comes Taichi’s voice. “You didn’t.”

But her face has gone from red to white. She looks at Tailmon’s egg, her chest heaving with sobs.

“She didn’t choose that form. I did. I betrayed her! And every second I feel the weight of it! I _can’t breathe with it!_ ”

She takes another step back and clutches at her heart. Ken feels his own break.

“Hikari-chan…” Takeru starts, his hand frozen in the air, scared to make a move.

“She’s gone because of me! She’s never coming back and it’s my fault!”

“That’s not true,” Taichi says. “Tailmon will hatch.”

“Then why hasn’t she?!” Hikari cries.

Ken looks down at the egg in Daisuke’s arms, silent even after all these weeks. Why _hasn’t_ Tailmon hatched yet? What’s keeping her inside?

“She can’t hatch because of me.” Hikari’s voice is a small, broken thing. “If I was gone she would hatch again, right?”

That’s not true, Ken wants to say, but he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know anything that happened, he wasn’t _there_. His friends needed him and he was in a coma underground, oblivious to all the harm his powers and past were causing.

Hikari squeezes her fists into her head. “Tailmon would be happier if she wasn’t with me, right? If I disappeared? I want to disappear!” It sounds like she’s begging. “I want to…”

But she can’t get any further words out. She dissolves into anguished cries, more painful to hear than Ken could ever imagine.

So he says, “Sometimes I want to disappear too.”

It’s nothing that the others shouldn’t already know. But saying it out loud is the most vulnerable Ken has ever felt.

Hikari stays still, eyes squeezed shut, but Ken knows she is listening. He keeps talking.

“After Chimeramon killed Wormmon...I wanted everything to stop. The pain of it - I felt it all the time.”

“Ken-chan…” Wormmon murmurs. Wormmon always tries to protect him, and Ken’s so grateful, but he can’t accept protection right now. He has to be brave.

“But you all were there for me. You always have been. You always are.” He swallows. “When I woke up in the hospital, I couldn’t feel anything. And then you came and I could breathe again. You reached out and I felt safe.”

Hikari opens her eyes. Ken doesn’t look away from her gaze.

“We could do that for you. We don’t want you to disappear. We want you here with us.” He takes a deep breath and says what he really wants to. “I want you here with me.”

More tears fall from her eyes.

“You forgave me, Hikari-san. So I’ll forgive you, until you forgive yourself.”

Hikari’s face crumples again as she takes a step toward him.

Ken doesn’t wait. He reaches out and wraps his arms around her. Hikari collapses into him, clutching at his shirt, and cries into his shoulder.

Even as she continues to shake with the sobs, even as Ken’s own eyes prickle with tears, he feels mostly relief. If Hikari needs to cry, he thinks, she can cry against him. He can hold her up. He can return the warmth she gave him and never leave her alone.

It takes a long moment for Hikari’s sobs to calm. She’s still crying when Miyako steps toward them and breaks the silence.

“He’s right,” she says. “None of us want you to disappear, Hikari-chan. I’m sure Tailmon would feel the same.”

“Tailmon _does_ feel the same,” Wormmon says. Hikari raises her head to look at him, and Wormmon nods in return. “Even if you hurt her, Tailmon will always want to be beside you. That’s what it means to be a partner. So don’t disappear. Stay, and be there for Tailmon when she hatches.”

Hikari takes a few shaky breaths, hiding her face in Ken’s shoulder again. Then, slowly, she finally looks back at Daisuke.

Daisuke gives her an off-center smile and holds up the egg. “We’ll all do our best for her. Right?”

Hikari nods and releases Ken’s shirt. She takes Tailmon’s egg from Daisuke’s hands. Holding it securely against her, she closes her eyes and leans back into Ken’s arms. Ken does not let go.

  


> _Thank you._

Ken is already in bed when Hikari’s text comes through. Wormmon is snuggled against him, as he was on the train back to Tamachi and all through the evening. Ken knows Wormmon needs the closeness just as much as he does himself.

Ken stares at Hikari’s message for a long time, trying to think of a response.

No one had gone home right away. Ken, Hikari, Miyako, and Koushiro relocated to a less crowded area to go over what happened. Before long Yamato and Sora arrived with bags full of drinks for everyone. Others went to grab takeout. It had turned into a frazzled picnic, everyone trying to calm down after the morning’s events. It was the first time they had all been together since the digital gate closed last year.

Hikari stayed by Ken’s side. The others came to her, trying to give her whatever comfort they could in hugs and promises. She didn’t say much but hugged everyone back. Daisuke stayed on Ken’s other side, and Sora and Mimi stayed close to Miyako. ‘Are you okay?’ everyone asked each other. ‘Do you need anything?’

Half the group came along to walk Ken to the train station. It was only when he had to board that Hikari finally let go of his hand.

Ken finally texts her back.

> _I’ll see you tomorrow._

And despite everything, she replies

> _-‿-_

The tension he’s been holding all day finally leaves him. Ken smiles at his phone and settles beside Wormmon to sleep.

* * *

“So,” Daisuke says awkwardly, “yesterday’s meeting kind of got interrupted.”

Miyako snorts as the group settles on the couches. Koushiro offered them his office for their get-togethers and there was no reason to decline. It’s cozy here, better than sitting outside. Everyone else will be coming later to discuss what happened yesterday, and keep each other updated on their individual projects post-infection. It feels like they’re coming back together as a team.

“Before anything,” Iori says, “do we have an update on Himekawa?”

“Koushiro-san is going to update everyone at the meeting later,” Ken says. “But he texted me this morning and said the doctors are confident she’s going to live.”

“Good,” Iori says.

Daisuke sighs. “I guess since you were working on this with Hikari-chan, you get insider information.” He looks at Ken. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Ken and Wormmon look at each other, considering. “Because we knew we could fail,” Ken says. “Our chances of finding Himekawa and bringing her back alive were so low. And I…”

He doesn’t like being vulnerable. But the people around him already know who he is. He doesn’t want to hide from them anymore.

Ken admits, “I forgot that you want to help. That you care. About me.”

“Of course we do!” V-mon says.

“We’re friends, aren’t we?” says Hawkmon.

Ken squeezes his hands on his lap. “It’s not about any of you. I feel like...since they used my D3, it brought back a lot of how I used to feel. I keep having to face the things I did in the past. It never goes away.”

“But you’re not that person anymore,” Daisuke says. “You _know_ you’re not.”

“But I still feel the guilt.” Ken swallows. “Maybe I should.”

“That’s stupid,” Iori says. The statement takes Ken aback. “Beating yourself up forever doesn’t help anyone. You shouldn’t believe it’s a moral imperative. You’re allowed to forgive yourself.”

“I did,” Ken says. “Or, I thought I did.”

“Then you’ll forgive yourself again,” Daisuke says. “And we’re here in the meantime. That’s what you told Hikari-chan, right?”

Ken smiles. “That’s what Wormmon told me.”

Wormmon huddles against Ken’s leg. “Maybe you should believe me.”

“And no more secrets,” Daisuke says, crossing his arms. “Not about stuff like this.”

“I’m sorry,” Ken says.

“You’re forgiven,” Miyako says. Ken looks at her and she just shrugs. “Or at least I forgive you. I’ll keep reminding you that we’re your friends, and you’ll keep us more in the loop next time. Deal?”

Ken smiles. “Deal.”

“Wormmon, too?” Armadimon asks.

“Deal!” Wormmon agrees.

Iori asks, “And, um, how is Hikari-san?”

Everyone looks down. Daisuke clears his throat and says, “Well, she said she’s going to be here later, so…”

“Hikari-chan is like Ken-kun,” Miyako says, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “I need to keep reminding her that we’re her friends, too.”

Iori looks troubled. “I don’t think I realized how hurt she was,” he admits.

There’s silence for a moment before Daisuke draws himself up. “Taichi-san and I talked for a bit last night. And he said that everything’s been so hard, and everyone’s struggling, so it’s hard to keep track of all the ways everyone needs help.” He smiles at Iori. “We all have to take care of ourselves, too. So don’t blame yourself, okay?”

Iori stares at him. “...That’s really kind of you, Daisuke-san.”

Daisuke grins. “You don’t need to sound so shocked.”

Iori laughs a little. “Then, you don’t feel bad about staying behind while the others went to the Dark World.”

The grin falls off Daisuke’s face. “I shouldn’t take it personally. But I felt like I was useless again. We weren’t around to help during the infection, and I couldn’t help with this either, not directly.”

“But you did help,” Hawkmon says. “Hikari-san left Tailmon’s egg with you.”

“Yeah, I know that was important. But I still…” Daisuke groans and hangs his head. “I hate waiting. Is that so bad?”

Iori shakes his head. “It’s hard to feel like you’re helping when you’re not in the thick of it. To tell the truth…” He looks around awkwardly before continuing. “I didn’t want to go with. But I still felt bad that I didn’t.”

Miyako sighs. “Iori-kun, you just told Ken-kun to stop beating himself up. Shouldn’t you do the same?”

Iori frowns. “Maybe you’re right.”

“We should all stop feeling bad about the things we weren’t able to do,” Miyako says. “No more blaming yourself for things you can’t control.” She looks straight at Ken. “And no disappearing.”

“I won’t,” Ken says quietly.

Miyako nods herself, satisfied.

“When did you start running this meeting?” Daisuke asks, but he’s smiling.

  
  
They’re comparing schedules for the upcoming week when there’s a knock at the office door.

“Excuse me,” Koushiro says as he pokes his head in. “It’s 1 o'clock, but Hikari-san and I can wait if you need more time.”

“We’re pretty much done for today,” Daisuke says. “Come on in.”

Koushiro, Tentomon, and Hikari all step in and everyone starts greeting each other. Hikari looks normal compared to yesterday’s distress, but nervous. It must be hard to face everyone after being so vulnerable. Even so, Ken feels lighter as he looks at her. She meets his eyes and seems to inhale.

For a quiet moment they just...look at each other.

Daisuke steamrolls over any awkwardness. “Hikari-chan, did Taichi-san not come with you?” he asks.

Hikari shakes her head. “Brother actually isn’t going to come today. He and Agumon are going with Meiko-san to the hospital.”

“To visit Himekawa?” Iori says. “Will she even take visitors?”

“I don’t know,” Hikari admits. “My brother and Agumon, I think, are a lost cause. But maybe Meiko-san will be able to talk to her.”

“So you’re just early?” Daisuke asks.

“I asked her to come early,” Koushiro says. “I’d like to copy any data her D3 may have picked up while in the Dark World for analysis. Ken-san, Miyako-kun, if I could have yours too…”

“Sure,” Miyako says as they all pull out their digivices. “But what are you interested in finding?”

“I’m not sure,” Koushiro says. “I just want to be prepared. You never know what information will be useful in the future.”

As they’re gathered around Koushiro’s desk, Ken quietly tells Hikari, “It’s good to see you.”

Her smile is small and wavering, but real. “You too.”

They sit side by side on the floor as the others arrive; there’s too many of them to fit on the couch. Takeru and Yamato come together, Takeru embracing Hikari hello, Gabumon patting Tailmon’s egg in welcome. Mimi and Palmon come with mountains of snacks. Arriving shortly after, Piyomon dives for the food and Sora helps Miyako tie her hair back. Jou and Gomamon skid into the room three minutes before they’re scheduled to start, but Koushiro figures there’s no sense in waiting.

“Taichi’s at the hospital with Mei-Mei?” Mimi asks. “Will Agumon even be allowed in?”

Popping a chocolate in her mouth, Palmon says, “Agumon has gone undercover before.”

Yamato snorts. “There’s only so much a hat and sweatshirt can do for a dinosaur.”

“We’re okay having this meeting without them?” Gabumon asks.

“Everyone’s been updating Taichi-san individually,” Koushiro says. “This is so we can help each other. We’ll fill Taichi-san in on anything he missed.”

“Then let’s start at the beginning,” Sora says. “Will Himekawa live?”

“Yes,” Jou says. “I talked to the hospital this morning; they were willing to update me because I talked to the paramedics yesterday. Himekawa is in rough shape. She was of course dehydrated and malnourished, and she contracted a respiratory illness. But she’s responding to treatment and the doctors are confident she’ll eventually make a full physical recovery.”

Ken and Hikari look at each other with small smiles. They really were able to save her.

“I’m glad,” Sora says. “Even if she was working against us...I’m glad she’ll live.”

“That’s the thing,” Jou says, frowning. “I know this sounds terrible, but she shouldn’t be alive if she was there since the beginning of August.”

“Which means she wasn’t,” Koushiro says. Ken wants to ask a hundred questions, but Koushiro shakes his head. “Sorry; that’s a mystery for another day, and we have other points to get through. For example: how I found Himekawa’s digivice in the first place. The reason I was able to create a tracking program for the Dark World is because of a data package Gennai-san sent me yesterday morning.”

“Gennai contacted you?” Gomamon asks.

“Not exactly,” Tentomon says. “He didn’t even say hello. He sent the files, nothing more.”

“What was in the files?” Piyomon asks.

“A world map,” Koushiro says.

“That’s amazing,” Takeru says. “A map of the whole Dark World?”

“I don’t know how he got it,” Koushiro says, “and I don’t know how he knew I needed it.”

“It’s Gennai,” Daisuke says, which he seems to think is explanation enough.

Yamato frowns. “He’s still keeping his distance from us, huh?”

Koushiro nods. “At least for now.”

The meeting moves on. Takeru gives updates about the worldwide Chosen website and the questions he’s gotten. Yamato, with the help of his parents, has been keeping track of what the media has said about Digimon ever since 1999. Mimi’s job has been keeping track of conversations in the general population. Sora has talked to a few public relations professionals about possibly putting out a press release about Digimon, but that’s nowhere close to being implemented. One mistake could lead to a lot of problems.

Everyone tosses out questions and suggestions on each other’s projects. There’s so much talking and a bit of bickering, and yet there’s laughter too. The crowded office feels like family.

  
  
Some of them go to the park after the meeting. With yesterday’s plans having been interrupted, they didn’t get around to Wormmon’s suggestion of playing soccer. So today it’s Ken, Iori, and Yamato versus Daisuke, Mimi, and Miyako. It’s a horribly uneven match; Hawkmon can fly and Gabumon can’t use his head for worry he’ll puncture the ball with his horn. Ken’s team is losing 2-0 when Hikari arrives at the park.

“Hikari-chan!” Mimi calls. “You can join their team, they need some help!”

“We’re losing because you’re cheating,” Yamato argues. “Hawkmon shouldn’t be able to fly while we’re playing.”

“You’re a sore loser,” Daisuke says.

Hikari gives them an uneven smile. “I think I’ll just watch.”

Ken clears his own throat and says, “I’m going to take a break, all right?”

Iori sighs. “We’re definitely losing this game.”

V-mon shouts, “I’ll switch teams to make it more even!”

Daisuke immediately starts complaining about betrayal and Yamato fires back his comment about sore losers. As Ken walks off their makeshift field he sees that Armadimon and Wormmon have gotten distracted by a bird in a nearby tree.

“I think we’ve spent maybe ten minutes in the last hour actually playing soccer,” Ken tells Hikari.

She smiles. “Sounds about right.” They watch the others bicker for a moment before Hikari says quietly, “Koushiro-san and Takeru-kun wanted to ask about the voices in the water.”

Nervous, Ken tries to speak gently. “Do they have any idea…”

Hikari shakes her head. “I couldn’t answer any of their questions.” She fidgets a little with the egg in her arms. “Takeru-kun is worried that they were the same voices that called for me three years ago. But we don’t know.”

Ken nods awkwardly. There’s a memory he has of the first time he went to that world: of being drawn to the ocean, feeling compelled to let the waters rush over his digivice. He thinks he remembers a voice telling him what to do. He can’t say if that memory is real, or if it’s the same voice from yesterday. At least for this, Ken can’t help.

The others finally continue their game. Iori is able to kick the ball toward V-mon, who literally throws Wormmon at it; Wormmon headbutts the ball fast enough to pass Mimi’s goal. Yamato cheers. Daisuke starts shouting at V-mon about betrayal again. Wormmon waves excitedly at Ken and Ken waves back.

“Thank you for staying with me,” Hikari says softly.

Ken doesn’t know if she means now, or in the Dark World, or maybe holding her as she cried yesterday. But his answer is the same regardless. “Of course.”

Her face twists and she takes a deep breath before saying, “I’m glad you didn’t head home yet.” She nervously meets his eyes. “I wanted to see you.”

His heart beats hard. “I wanted to see you too.”

Her expression shifts back to a small, shy smile. The soccer game continues with predictable chaos, and Hikari quietly leans towards Ken to brush their shoulders together.

* * *

  
Taichi and Agumon are waiting when Ken gets out of school on Monday. Taichi doesn’t even say hello; he just steps up to Ken and hands him a soda. “I figured I owed you something.”

“You don’t-” Ken starts, but Taichi cheerfully interrupts.

“Keep quiet and let me be a big brother, okay? Thank you for being there for Hikari. I’m really grateful that she hasn’t been alone.”

So Ken accepts the drink and says, “Me too.”

They relocate to the bench. Taichi gives Wormmon his own soda and says, “I wanted to thank you guys properly today since I didn’t see you yesterday.”

“You went to the hospital, right?” Wormmon asks.

“We _tried_ ,” Agumon replies.

“Himekawa didn’t want to see me,” Taichi says. “And they wouldn’t even let Agumon inside the building. But Mochizuki seemed to like having someone with her.”

Ken nods. “Koushiro-san wants to talk to Himekawa about what happened. Do you think she will?”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Taichi says.

“Don’t give up!” Agumon tells Taichi. “Maybe she’ll come around once she heals.”

Wormmon nods from Ken’s lap. “Let’s give her time.”

Taichi smiles. “Yeah, maybe.” He takes a drink from his own soda before turning to Ken. “How are you doing?”

“...I’m still worried about everything,” Ken admits. “But I feel like we’ve turned a corner.”

“That’s the best we can hope for,” Taichi says. “Nothing’s going to be perfect right now. But they can get better, right?”

They sit in silence for a moment. The cool breeze fills up Ken’s lungs. He wonders if maybe he can learn to be like Taichi, realistic and optimistic at the same time.

Naturally, Taichi waits until Ken has taken a drink to ask, “Are you Hikari’s boyfriend now?”

Ken spits up his soda. Taichi and Agumon roar with laughter.

“Ken-chan!”

“I’m fine,” Ken tells a fretting Wormmon between his coughs.

Taichi’s still laughing as he hands over a couple napkins. “Sorry.”

“No you’re not,” Ken says.

Taichi grins. “Middle school kids are too easy to embarrass.” Then he asks, “Seriously though, are you Hikari’s boyfriend?”

Ken finishes wiping his face and says, “It’s not like that.”

But Taichi silently and pointedly raises his eyebrows, so Ken knows he didn’t sound convincing. He thinks about how his spirits lifted when he saw Hikari yesterday. How they stood close in the park. How she squeezed his hand when they said goodbye, and Ken didn’t want to leave her.

“Hikari-san is my friend,” he says, because that much is true. “If I was anything else, you would know, right?”

Taichi shrugs. “Not with the way things are right now, no. I’m not sure she would tell me.”

Ken doesn’t know what to say to that. He finds himself thinking of Osamu. Had his brother lived, would he and Ken have had problems like Taichi and Hikari are having? Would Osamu have teased him about girls? Would he have bought Ken sodas as a thank you?

“I’m sorry,” Ken says. “I’m sure it’s hard.”

Taichi claps his shoulder. “It’s like I said: things can get better. You just need patience sometimes.” Then he grins and adds, “And to not spit your soda all over yourself.” He laughs again, and Ken sighs while trying not to smile.

* * *

“You’ve been doing research for this, haven’t you?”

Daisuke looks up from shoveling noodles in his mouth. “Hah?”

Ken gestures around Koushiro’s office. “For our talk group. You’ve been looking up how to run these meetings.”

Daisuke almost looks a little shy. He swallows his bite and says, “Well, yeah. I mean, I don’t really know what I’m doing. I don’t want to make things worse. Not sure if I’m actually helping, but…”

“It’s helping,” Iori says. Ken and Daisuke both turn to him, but Iori just smiles. Miyako smiles too. Armadimon, sitting on the couch beside him, nudges Iori affectionately before digging back into his dinner.

“Well, good,” Daisuke says awkwardly.

They continue. They talk about weird dreams, about Mochizuki Meiko, about missing months of their lives. It’s difficult to give voice to the terrifying thoughts in their heads. But Ken will take the hard things. He wants to stay with these people, his precious friends. The hard things are worth it.

Ken’s cell phone goes off. Daisuke groans. “You’re not being called off on another rescue mission, are you?”

“I don’t think so,” Ken says as he pulls out his phone. It’s only a text message from Takeru.

> _You all are going to want to come outside. Trust me._

Ken finds himself frowning at it, feeling nerves.

“Weird,” Iori says. “Is he outside waiting for us?”

Miyako sighs and stands up. “Meeting pause. Let’s go.”

“Stop trying to take over the meetings,” Daisuke says, but he’s standing up too.

Ken tries not to worry as they take the elevator down. Takeru would have said if this was something serious. He would have called, not texted. This is not another crisis.

And even if it is, Ken thinks, looking around at his friends, he is not alone. When the next battle comes they will be able to face it. He has to believe that.

Armadimon leads the group out of the building. Ken has only crossed through the door when he spots Takeru, Patamon, and Hikari sitting on the ground nearby.

But Hikari isn’t holding Tailmon’s egg. Instead she holds a small creature, white as snow, in her hands.

“ _Oh_ ,” Ken breathes.

“She hatched!” V-mon shouts, running toward them. Wormmon and Armadimon follow and Hawkmon flies above. “Tailmon hatched!”

Yukimibotamon turns in Hikari’s hands toward the voice, smiling. Ken stares at Hikari’s tear-soaked face as she holds out her hands to Patamon. Patamon gently takes Yukimibotamon from her and happily squishes their faces together. The other Digimon crowd around them.

“We missed you!” Hawkmon says.

“Welcome back!” Armadimon says.

Takeru laughs brightly, and Hikari-

Hikari is laughing too. She looks up at them and her smile is so wide and her tears are of _joy_.

Ken didn’t realize until now just how much he wanted to see her happy.

He can’t help it. He’s already running toward her as Hikari lets Takeru help her up off the ground. She’s beaming at all of them. She’s _happy_.

Ken feels his own smile break across his face. When he reaches her Hikari throws her arms around him without hesitation, and Ken finds himself lifting her off the ground. She laughs, loud and clear as bells, and the sound brings tears to his eyes.

The others are clamoring with joy and excitement. Wormmon gently pats Yukimibotamon on the head, and she giggles in response. Iori is sniffling. Takeru is telling Daisuke and Miyako he texted Taichi, but the others still...

“Thank you,” Hikari whispers in Ken’s ear, “thank you, thank you,” and Ken isn’t sure if she’s talking to him or to the world around her. He can’t think of any adequate words for this, but he tightens his around her and smiles into her hair, and keeps holding her up.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, especially for my rarepair otp :)


End file.
